The Spirit of Christmas
by 70's Lover
Summary: Bob does some last minute shopping for his mom. What will happen if Bob has a change of heart thanks to a little boy?


**Disclaimer: I don't own the outsiders, they belong to S.E. Hinton. I also don't own the song The Christmas Shoes (not sure who sings it). I only own My OC's.**

I pulled up to the department store to do some last minute shopping that my mom sent me out to do. The truth was, I just wanted to sit at home by the nice, cozy fire and keep warm. I glanced around and saw a little boy looking through the shoe department and I wasn't sure if I should help him out or not so I gathered up some toys and grabbed a stuff bear, and went to the little boy.

"Hey, kid, do you like this?" I asked, since I had a nephew that was about his age coming for Christmas.

"Where are they? I need to find them," he said desperately as he searched around.

I stepped over a pile of boxes and looked around more. I wasn't sure what to get anyone this year. I knew I wanted to get Cherry a nice gift but when I asked her what she wanted she'd avoid the topic for some reason. But who knows with girls these days, they always seem to want to argue about the smallest things. But, I wanted to apologize to Cherry for being late for our date two weeks ago and when I did show up, I was drunk, 'like normal' as she would say it.

I grabbed the few things I had and went to the counter and looked around at the candy to see what there was, but nothing looked very good. The guy went to start ringing up my stuff when the little boy cut in front of me.

"Do you mind, kid? I was here first," I barked ticked at his doing this and the simple fact that I was the one who was sent out to do the shopping.

"Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama. Please, it's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time. You see she's been sick for quite a while and I know these shoes will make her smile, and I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight," the little boy said and looked at him, confused. Why the hell would a little kid say something like that, I kept thinking.

The cashier counted all the pennies and money the little boy had and a sad look fell over his face. "Sorry kid, you're short five dollars," he told the little boy and the little boy, who was dirty from head to toe, hung his head and I saw the tears fall.

The kid searched his pockets and the tears continued to fall as he turned to me. "Mama made Christmas good at our house, though most years she just did without. Tell me, sir, what am I going to do? Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes," he told me and started to leave.

"Wait a minute, son, come here, please," I told the little boy and he came over to me, still crying. I know the feeling of losing someone, just last week my grandma had passed away.

"Yes, sir?" he softly said and I took him into a hug. I knew it wasn't like me, but I knew how this kid was feeling.

"How about the two of us buy these shoes for you mama tonight?" I asked him and his face beamed with joy.

"You'll help me?" he asked, confused. I think it was because he clearly was a greaser kid and he didn't know why a Social would be nice enough to help out.

"Yes, I'll help you son, I just recently lost my grandmother," I told him and felt the tears come to my eyes.

"Th-thank you, kind sir," the little boy told me and I nodded.

"Not a problem. Call me Bob instead of Sir, that makes me feel old. How about you quickly go and pick out a toy for yourself and something for your dad if you want," he nodded and ran to two different spots and grabbed a small bottle from the men's area and a toy from the kids area and came back up to me. The kid smiled up at me, happiness flooding his eyes, and I felt a sense of fulfillment wash over me.

The cashier rang up the stuff and I gave the little boy his box of shoes and the small toy he got along with the bottle of cologne he got his daddy. "Thank you, sir, I just _had_ to buy these shoes for my mama," he told me and ran out the door.

I gathered up my stuff, took it out to the car and decided to make a stop at the house Cherry had the church's Christmas singing group at and when I got there I saw the little boy run inside. I was a little confused on why the little boy went into the house. I smiled a slight smile when I saw the packages in his hands. It felt good to help someone out. I glanced around and saw Cherry so I went to her, "hey," I greeted.

"Hey Bob," she greeted back with a smile and we joined the kids in singing _Silent Night_.

"I'm sorry about your friend who's sick," I told her and it dawned on me as to why the little boy had run inside the house.

"Thanks Bob. Her husband said if the light goes out, she's gone to heaven," Cherry told me and I saw the tears forming and I held her close as I thought of what the little boy had said.

_'Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama. Please, It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time. You see she's been sick for quite a while and I know these shoes would make her smile, and I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.' _

When I was thinking of the little boy I saw the light go out and started thinking that I saw Heaven's love in that little boy's eyes when he mentioned his mom. Cherry looked up at me and the tears were falling.

"Bob, what are you thinking about?" she asked me kindly.

"Her little boy," was all I got out and felt the tears fall, "came to the store I was at and we got talking," Bob proceeded to tell Cherry about meeting the little boy in the store and about everything he told him. Bob glanced down and saw the tears forming in Cherry's eyes.

"Oh, Bob," was all she said and the tears fell from both of our eyes.

"I, I helped him buy his mom the shoes he wanted to give her, I just had to. I felt something in my heart that told me that I had to help the little kid out," I told her through tears and we both stood there hugging in front of the house we were at.

"That was really nice of you Bob, I knew you had a heart," she told me and I chuckled a little as we walked to the car. I dropped her home and then made my way back to my place. When I got there I ran inside, forgetting the presents, and went to my mom and gave her a hug.

"I love you, Mom," I told her and we hugged more.

"I love you too, son, what's gotten into you tonight?" she asked as we sat down on the couch.

"I helped a little kid out tonight," I told her and she huffed, "Ma, he was buying shoes for his mom who visited Jesus tonight."

She gave me a look, "Okay?" she asked.

"His exact words that got me to buy the shoes are, Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please, It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size, Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time, You see she's been sick for quite a while, And I know these shoes would make her smile, And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight," I told her and she nodded, "then he came out and said Mama made Christmas good at our house, Though most years she just did without, Tell me Sir, what am I going to do, Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes."

She nodded and I saw the tears in her eyes. "I, I understand, son. It was the best thing you could do, to help that little boy make his wish come true." I nodded back and we both sat there and looked at the fire. I got up. "Where're you going?"

"To get the stuff from the car so we can wrap it and put it under the tree," I told her with a smile. She smiled back and got her shoes on and helped me bring in the gifts and we stayed up late wrapping them.

The next morning I took the two extra bears I bought and headed over to the little boys house. I got out of my car and slowly made my way up to the house and knocked on the door.

A man answered the door and the little boy came out to us. "Bob!" he greeted with sad eyes.

"Hey, kid, I brought you these," I told him and handed him the two bears. He smiled a small smile and gave me a hug. "Thank you for helping me buy mama's gift."

"You're welcome," I replied and stood up and his dad gave me a look.

"I was short on money and Bob here was kind enough to help me buy mom's shoes so she'd be pretty when she met Jesus," the little boy told his dad and I felt the tears come to my eyes.

"Thank you, sir," his dad said and we shook hands.

"You're welcome," was all I could get out as I felt a lump rise in my throat. The little boy dragged me inside and to the couch. I sat down and the little boy ran to his room. I wasn't sure what was going on at the moment. He came out with something in his hands and handed me the box. I slowly opened it and there was some money.

"What I owe you," the little boy said and the lump got bigger.

"You don't need to pay me back," I told him and handed him the box. He took it with a sad look. "But if you want to, the way you could pay me back is, maybe one of these days, you, me and your dad could go fishing?"

"Can we, Dad?" he asked with a happy look.

"When it gets warmer, Mike," his dad said and Mike gave me a hug with a smile.

"That'll be awesome," he exclaimed and ran to his room to put the box back.


End file.
